Escalations in the Ukraine and a slowdown in China took the blame for Thursday's meltdown, but the warning signs were really in place a whole week ago. With the broad market pressing against the top of the channel that it's been bouncing within for the last 15 months, a move lower was the high-probability outcome heading into this week. More important, stocks look likely to continue a correction for the rest of March.

That's not a death sentence for your portfolio. We're still in a "buy the dips market," after all. Well, if you don't own any "toxic stocks," that is -- toxic stocks that could crush your portfolio's performance as the market takes a breather this month.

So which names do you need to avoid? Today, we're taking a technical look today at five toxic stocks you should start selling.

Just to be clear, the companies I'm talking about today aren't exactly junk. By that, I mean they're not next up in line at bankruptcy court. But that's frankly irrelevant; from a technical analysis standpoint, sellers are shoving around these toxic stocks right now. For that reason, fundamental investors need to decide how long they're willing to take the pain if they want to hold onto these firms in the weeks and months ahead. And for investors looking to buy one of these positions, it makes sense to wait for more favorable technical conditions (and a lower share price) before piling in.

For the unfamiliar, technical analysis is a way for investors to quantify qualitative factors, such as investor psychology, based on a stock's price action and trends. Once the domain of cloistered trading teams on Wall Street, technicals can help top traders make consistently profitable trades and can aid fundamental investors in better planning their stock execution.